Fertility & Pregnancy News

A new Cochrane Review published today has found that increasing the intake of omega-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LCPUFA) during pregnancy reduces the risk of premature births.
Premature birth is the leading cause of death for children under 5 years old worldwide, accounting for close to one million deaths annually. Premature babies are at higher risk of a … [Read more...]

Most single women who freeze their eggs for non-medical reasons are doing so to avoid 'panic parenting' (entering into unwise relationships to have a genetically-related child), a new study published in Human Fertility finds.
The research also indicates that clinics need to be clearer about the likelihood of having a baby with these eggs in the future.
Dr Kylie … [Read more...]

High maternal levels of the stress hormone cortisol during pregnancy increase anxious and depressive-like behaviors in female offspring at the age of 2, reports a new study in Biological Psychiatry. The effect of elevated maternal cortisol on the negative offspring behavior appeared to result from patterns of stronger communication between brain regions important for sensory … [Read more...]

Australian led global guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of the primary cause of infertility in women will be published simultaneously in three international journals, supported by a suite of health professional and patient resources to improve health outcomes for women with PCOS.
Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) affects up to 13% of women of reproductive age in … [Read more...]

A wide range of fetal genetic abnormalities could soon be detected in early pregnancy thanks to a world-first study led by University of South Australia researchers using lab-on-a-chip, non-invasive technology.
Biomedical engineers Dr Marnie Winter and Professor Benjamin Thierry from UniSA's Future Industries Institute (FII) and the ARC Centre of Excellence in Convergent … [Read more...]

No adverse outcomes reported for mothers with rheumatoid arthritis except premature delivery.
The results of a study presented today at the Annual European Congress of Rheumatology (EULAR 2018) demonstrate that pregnancies in women with rheumatoid arthritis are associated with premature delivery and low birth weight.
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic inflammatory … [Read more...]

Among women planning to conceive after a pregnancy loss, those who had sufficient levels of vitamin D were more likely to become pregnant and have a live birth, compared to women with insufficient levels of the vitamin, according to an analysis by researchers at the National Institutes of Health. This study appears in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology.
"Our … [Read more...]

A new study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine has determined that poorer childhood cognition occurred, particularly in memory and learning, when pregnant women or their offspring consumed greater quantities of sugar. Substituting diet soda for sugar-sweetened versions during pregnancy also appeared to have negative effects. However, children's fruit … [Read more...]

With marijuana use during pregnancy on the rise, a new study led by the Colorado School of Public Health shows that prenatal cannabis use was associated with a 50 percent increased likelihood of low birth weight, setting the stage for serious future health problems including infection and time spent in Neonatal Intensive Care Units.
"Our findings underscore the … [Read more...]

New research does not support the previously observed negative impacts of antidepressant use on breastfeeding. In the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology study, use of serotonin reuptake inhibitors in late pregnancy was not linked with an increased risk of women experiencing low milk supply.
The study found that women with an underlying psychiatric illness appeared … [Read more...]

Women who have gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) during pregnancy have a higher than usual risk of developing type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and ischemic heart disease in the future, according to new research led by the University of Birmingham.
The retrospective cohort study, a collaboration between the Universities of Birmingham, Auckland, and Warwick, as well … [Read more...]

Freezing and subsequent transfer of embryos gives infertile couples just as much of a chance of having a child as using fresh embryos for in vitro fertilization (IVF), research from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, and Adelaide, Australia has found.
In results to be published this week in The New England Journal of Medicine, the research team shows that ongoing … [Read more...]

There is currently insufficient evidence to guide recommendations on the use of vitamin D supplements in pregnancy, conclude researchers in The BMJ today.
A team led by Dr Daniel Roth at The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, say some of the most critical questions about the effectiveness of taking vitamin D supplements during pregnancy "will probably remain unanswered in … [Read more...]

It's unclear whether there is a need to retrieve a woman's eggs on weekends, in connection with in vitro fertilization/intracytoplasmatic sperm injection (IVF/ICSI) treatment in couples wishing to conceive. In a recent Acta Obstetricia et Gynecologica Scandinavica study, scheduling of eggretrieval and single embryo transfer procedures only on weekdays did not result in … [Read more...]

About 13 years ago, Northeastern professor Jonathan Tilly, a reproductive biologist, made a discovery that challenged everything scientists thought they knew about female reproduction. The long-held belief that mammals were born with a set number of eggs -- and no ability to create new ones -- was wrong.
Now, Tilly and his colleagues have published a new study that "puts … [Read more...]

The use of antidepressants has been on the rise for many years. Between 2 and 8% of pregnant women are on antidepressants. Now researchers from the National Centre for Register-based Research at Aarhus BSS show that there is an increased risk involved in using antidepressants during pregnancy.
The researchers, headed by Xiaoqin Liu, have applied register-based research … [Read more...]

Pro-choice campaigners have raised concerns about the potential impact of Brexit on women travelling from Ireland to Britain for abortions.
Ailbhe Smyth, spokeswoman for the Coalition to Repeal the Eighth Amendment, said she was worried about restrictions on travel or access to services that might result from the United Kingdom’s decision to leave the European … [Read more...]

Midwives have dropped their campaign encouraging women to give birth naturally, according to a report.
The Royal College of Midwives' campaign had run since 2005, promoting birth without medical intervention, such as an emergency caesarean.
But they will no longer be told they should have babies without this intervention.
Professor Cathy Warwick, chief executive of … [Read more...]

An enduring taboo surrounding menstrual bleeding is endangering women’s health, a new study has found.
A "culture of silence" around vaginal bleeding, from puberty through to menopause, is failing the needs of women and girls and means many are unable to tell the difference between what is healthy and what is not, researchers said.
The study, conducted at Columbia … [Read more...]

High maternal sugar intake during pregnancy may increase the risk of allergy and allergic asthma in the offspring, according to an early study led by Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) involving almost 9,000 mother-child pairs.
While some research has reported an association between a high consumption of sugar-containing beverages and asthma in children, the relation … [Read more...]

The center of a mother's life tends to be her children and her family, but if mom is unhappy about staying home with the kids or about working outside the home then she (and anyone close to her) may suffer, according to new research from Arizona State University.
In "What women want: Employment preference and adjustment among mothers," published in the early on-line … [Read more...]

Women who have episiotomies after childbirth reported having poorer body image and less satisfying sex lives than women who tear and heal naturally.
The University of Michigan study challenges the conventional thinking that an episiotomy yields a more aesthetically and visually pleasing repair than tearing naturally during childbirth.
An episiotomy is a surgical cut … [Read more...]

Overuse of cesarean can jeopardize the health of mothers and babies. As cesarean rates have grown in many nations, cesarean overuse has become a key public health issue.
That's why the public health community was alarmed when in 2010 the World Health Organization (WHO) reported that 46.2% of Chinese babies were delivered by cesarean. China is the home for about one-fifth … [Read more...]

Canada's program that aims to prevent pregnancy in women who use the powerful acne drug isotretinoin (Accutane) is not effective, found a new study in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal).
Of the women taking the drug, 30% to 50% do not comply with the program's requirements, which, given the severe harm the drug can cause to a fetus, represents poor performance … [Read more...]

Refugee women who come to Canada have greater risk of giving birth prematurely than non-refugee immigrants, a study by a St. Michael's Hospital researcher has found. Those risks are fueled by the fact that the preterm birth rate was 7.1 per cent among secondary refugees -- those who spent more than six months in a transit country before arriving in Canada -compared to five per … [Read more...]

For those facing infertility, IVF has long been the established option to have a baby. Now Australian and Belgian medical scientists have discovered how to improve a woman's chances of becoming pregnant using a less invasive and cheaper alternative.
The innovation, which has already undergone pre-clinical testing, uses growth factors to enhance an existing fertility … [Read more...]

A study involving over 6,500 pregnant women from 6 countries in northern Europe highlights a clear need for appropriate support and advice when cesarean section (c-section) is elected for non-medical reasons, and for the accurate communication of the risk and benefits of c-section birth, suggests new research published in the Journal of Psychosomatic Obstetrics & … [Read more...]

Seasonal influenza vaccination may guard against stillbirth, a new study published in Clinical Infectious Diseases and available online suggests. Researchers in Western Australia analyzed data from nearly 60,000 births that occurred during the southern hemisphere's 2012 and 2013 seasonal influenza epidemics, and found that women who received the trivalent influenza vaccine … [Read more...]

Fifteen million out of 16.7 million unwanted pregnancies a year could be avoided in 35 low- and middle-income countries if women had the opportunity to use modern methods of contraception, according to a study that applies to about one-third of the world's population.
The authors of the study point out that women who become pregnant unintentionally in these countries may … [Read more...]

In several South Asian countries, midwifery is not an established profession. As a result, complications in both mothers and newborns are extremely common. Malin Bogren has been commissioned by the UN to work in Nepal, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. In her thesis, she presents a strategy on how the midwifery profession can be established in low-income countries -- and in this way, … [Read more...]